Mehvish Safdar, a collegiate pickleball player and former D1 tennis player, has become one of Collegiate Pickleball's top competitors. While studying sport psychology at Indiana University, she secured two first-place trophies at the 2024 College Individual National Championship (CINC).

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Learn more about her insights and advice below! (Responses were transcribed from a video interview and edited by Charles Smith.)

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Tell us about your background in tennis and what inspired you to pursue it at a higher level.

‍I started playing competitive tennis at a very young age —some might say I was born with a racket in hand. I'm the youngest of three girls, and they both played. I just picked it up in the park and then played with my sisters. Others recognized some potential in me, highlighting that it was something that was worth continuing to pursue.

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What challenges did you face transitioning from collegiate tennis to life without competitive play?

I had a difficult time transitioning out of tennis because it was such a big part of my life. Then pretty soon after I found pickleball, which was great because it was something new, but familiar. I felt I was able to pick it up pretty quickly. The tennis background helps you be a decent pickleball player, but it’s not enough to be a great pickleball player. I actually think that my tennis background helped me and hurt me. It helped me with the basics, but I've had to unlearn a lot of tennis tendencies that have hurt me in pickleball. 

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Which mental techniques or strategies have been effective for you or other athletes that you've worked with when competing at an elite level?

I've actually had the opportunity through my schooling and training to work with collegiate athletes on mental performance. I think a couple things that I would say have been helpful for me and have often been helpful for athletes include going into practice or even competition and looking at it as a positive opportunity. So an opportunity to compete, exercise, have fun, and implement the things that you've been working on. I think that it can be helpful to take a step back and have perspective. It is just a game and the sun will rise tomorrow. There are a lot of really difficult things going on in the world, and I think having that perspective can really help elite athletes perform at a higher level as well as just enjoy the sport more. 

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What advice would you give to current athletes who are approaching the end of their collegiate or sports professional career? 

I'm actually working on my dissertation research right now for my PhD program. My focus is helping athletes navigate the transition out of collegiate sports, so it's important to recognize who you are outside of just being an athlete.

The stronger adherence you have to your athletic identity can really hurt you mentally. So recognizing that there's more to you than just being an athlete or recognizing that even those traits or skills that you possess as an athlete can transfer to other aspects of your life can be really helpful when transitioning out of sports, whether it's at a collegiate or professional level.

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Do you have any hopes for the impact your research could have? 

I think that the ultimate goal is that the research translates into practice in some way. In sport psychology, a lot of the research is based around how we optimize performance outcomes on various psychological or mental skills. 

I'm also trying to bring an emphasis to how we can help athletes transition out of sports. For my dissertation, I'm trying to look into programming specifically that will help athletes have an easier transition out of collegiate athletics. There's a lot of research on the challenges that student athletes will experience, but there's not a ton of research on how we take those results and then create programming that will actually help them with the issue. 

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Were there any resources or support systems that helped you transition out of collegiate sports? 

I could have really used someone like my current self or any sport psychology consultant or mental performance coach when I was a college student athlete. I think even if you're not engaged in traditional programming or if programming isn't out there to help you transition out of sport, it's really important to lean on your social supports and talk to other former student athletes and normalize that difficult transition. 

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You performed great at THE DUPR CINC 2024, getting first place twice in mixed doubles and women's singles! How did those wins feel and what was your experience with the overall competition?

I was playing for Indiana University (IU), and IU pickleball was born very recently, so we created a competitive team in the fall of 2022. This year was our first showing at the Collegiate Individual Nationals. 

I think we had a good showing all around for it being our first time there. It was in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is home for me, so it was extra special. My parents were there and we played at the facility that I started playing tennis at. That was extra cool, and it was a really fun experience. 

We got to play a lot of matches within a couple of days: I played 23 matches in two days, which is wild. I had a couple of very bruised toenails after the tournament. Also, I got to meet a lot of new people. Everyone's really friendly at these college tournaments, and DUPR does a great job of creating a very organized environment and also an environment that's just fun and friendly. DUPR also takes very good care of the athletes too.

Our team had a few coaches there: Timber Tucker, Courtney and Kirby Shedd. They all volunteered their time and energy to help grow the IU pickleball team and support collegiate pickleball. That was great having them there. I got two titles while I was there which was exciting, and I got to make some money along the way. It was a really great weekend overall!

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Keep up with Mehvish's journey on Instagram, and check out her team Indiana University Pickleball Club!

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Written By: Charles Smith

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